SALISES to host child rights competition
THE SIR Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), University of the West Indies, Mona, is to host a child rights competition to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
In 1989, world leaders signed a treaty promising every child that their rights will be protected and fulfilled.
Professor Aldrie Henry-Lee, director of the SALISES, said while the Child Rights Conference which has been held in Jamaica for a number of years has now moved to Barbados, they did not want to miss the opportunity to commemorate the anniversary of the convention, and as a result the creative piece competition was devised.
“November 20 will be the anniversary of the adoption of the convention which states how we should treat children, and I thought in order to commemorate it that we should have a primary school competition and ask the children to show us by some creative piece what they think about child rights in Jamaica,” the professor explained.
The competition is opened to all schools nationally and entries can be from groups of no more than five, and also individuals.
“The response has been very good so far. The deadline for entries was October 4, but we are going to try and extend it just to give people a chance to send in their names and the format that the creative piece will take,” explained Henry-Lee.
She added that a description of the piece is not necessary when entries are being made.
COMPETITION’S AIM
The aim of the competition is to see if children know their rights and to gauge how well they think these rights are being upheld.
“We will be judging them on the extent to which they show explicitly how we adhere to the children’s rights in Jamaica, and also which right they are talking about; whether it’s education, health, protection or violence, and how well it has been adhered to,” Henry-Lee stated.
“The schools that enter, we assume that the teachers will be preparing them and will go through the convention with them and will be able to increase the awareness of child rights, and they will be able to use their creativity to bring all these out,” she noted.
The competition will be held on November 26 at The Assembly Hall, UWI. Registration begins at 8 a.m. There will be prizes for the top school, along with the winning group and winning individuals.
The deadline for entries will be extended and only two entries will be accepted from each school. Schools should register by emailing primaryschoolsCRC30@ gmail.com, including the names of the school, participants’ names and the format of the performance.
For further information call Michelle Williams at SALISES, UWI at (876) 927-1020 or (876) 790-3462.